Idaho Supports Plutonium Production Plan

[beetbox]

Idaho Supports Plutonium Production Plan


Tuesday August 30, 2005 4:46 AM

By CHRISTOPHER SMITH

Associated Press Writer

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - The state is supporting an Energy Department proposal to start producing plutonium-238 for NASA and national security agencies at a federal nuclear research compound in eastern Idaho.

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Some Idaho residents have opposed the plan for fear it would increase cancer deaths, threaten the nearby Yellowstone ecosystem and make the region a potential terrorist target.

It is many times more radioactive than weapons-grade plutonium-239, however, and ingesting a speck can be fatal.

The United States stopped producing plutonium-238 when it shut the last weapons reactor at the Savannah River complex in South Carolina in the mid-1990s. Instead it has relied on existing stockpiles and a supply provided by Russia that is limited to use by NASA in the space program. The Bush administration wants to use an existing reactor at the lab to make 11 pounds of plutonium-238 annually for 35 years, beginning in 2010.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5242430,00.html

[Joebert]

1. That would probably make for a wicked dirty bomb.

I wonder if this ties into weaponization of space / space supremacy.

Hmm...

[lvx35]

2. very likely.

They say its great function is to make LONG lasting batteries, perfect for space...But dangerous to get it up there, if only a speck kills a person and given the record of NASA launches lately!

[Joebert]

3. To be fair

Two shuttles have blown up.

No rockets, the things they use to put satellites up, have blown up recently.

I'm not saying that it's not scary dangerous to launch something that could blow up like that, but the launch is the least of their worries.